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Edited on Wed Mar-02-05 12:24 PM by LilKim
From: C-upi@clari.net (United Press International)
Newsgroups: clari.news.religion,clari.world.asia.central, clari.news.issues.human_rights,clari.news.issues, clari.world.asia+oceania
Subject: President closes down nation's hospitals
Organization: Copyright 2005 by United Press International (via ClariNet)
Date: Wed, 2 Mar 2005 3:54:13 EST
ASHKHABAD, Turkmenistan, March 2 (UPI) -- The controversial president of Turkmenistan, Saparmurat Niyazov, reportedly has ordered the closure of all hospitals except those in the capital, Ashkhabad.
The order, announced by a government spokesman, is part of the president's radical changes to healthcare, the BBC reported Tuesday. Thousands of medical workers already have been fired under the plan.
Niyazov made the decision at a meeting with local officials Monday. "Why do we need such hospitals?" he reportedly said. "If people are ill, they can come to Ashkhabad."
At the same time, he ordered the closure of rural libraries, saying they are pointless because village Turkmens do not read.
Niyazov became president of the Central Asian republic in 1991 with the end of the Soviet Union. He retains absolute control and opposition is not tolerated.
The government has full control of all media, and freedom of religion is enjoyed only by the officially recognized Sunni Muslim and Russian Orthodox faiths.
Civil rights activists abroad say Niyazov has destroyed social services while spending millions of dollars of public money on grand projects, such as gold statues of himself and a vast marble and gold mosque, one of the biggest in Asia.
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